NYC’s iconic Roosevelt Hotel closing after nearly 100 years

Lis Sinatra

One of NYC's most iconic Midtown hotels, The Roosevelt, is closing after nearly 100 years in business due to the coronavirus. "Due to the current, unprecedented environment and the continued uncertain impact from COVID-19, the owners of the Roosevelt Hotel have made the difficult decision to close the hotel and the associates were notified this week," The Roosevelt Hotel told CNN in a statement. "The iconic hotel, along with most of New York City, has experienced very low demand and as a result the hotel will cease operations before the end of the year. There are currently no plans for the building beyond the scheduled closing."

Located right by Grand Central Terminal at 45 E 45th St between Park and Madison, The Roosevelt Hotel opened in 1924 and has been a location for many movies and TV shows over the years, including Wall St, Malcolm X, Quiz Show, Boiler Room, Maid in Manhattan, The Irishman and more. The Roosevelt was where the Guy Lombardo and His Orchestra first performed "Auld Lang Syne" for New Year's Eve in 1939, the radio broadcast of which is generally regarded as helping popularize the song and making it a holiday standard.

The Roosevelt was also home to many interesting and notorious conventions there -- including comic books, collectibles and records -- over the years, like the The Roosevelt Hotel Record Convention which is an indelible part of hip hop history, as DJs and crate-diggers headed there to look for fresh beats and breaks. "It would always happen on a Sunday," said Evil Dee in the "New York State of Mind" episode of Netflix documentary series Hip Hop Evolution. "Q-Tip would show up at my house at 5 AM and [we'd] drive straight to the hotel so we could look over the records before anybody." Kid Capri went as far as to get a room in the hotel during the convention, so he could hit the crates first.

You can watch DJ Soulero and late DJ John Carraro talk about The Roosevelt Record Convention on a 2004 episode of Soulero's public access series The Rare Groove Revolution below.

The Roosevelt, we're sad to see you go.